This invention relates generally to a ring drive silo reclaimer. A silo reclaimer, of the type herein described, has a rotating sweep auger which travels around the silo reclaim floor pivoting from the center of the silo reclaim floor. The back support arm of the sweep auger is attached to a 360 degree drive ring located in or ont the reclaim floor a short distance from the silo wall. This drive ring advances the sweep auger 360 degrees around the reclaim floor of the silo. As it does so, it reclaims material close to the reclaim floor and conveys it radially inwardly to a center discharge hopper. The discharge hopper extends downwardly below the reclaim floor into the control room. The reclaim material is discharged therefrom by a discharge auger. Reclaimers of this design are in common use for both industry and agriculture.
There are many types of material to be reclaimed from silos including wafer board chips, meat by-products, ground corn cobs, tree chips, organic fertilizer, bulk chemicals, gluten feed, refined sugar, hogged bark, peanut hulls, shavings, compost, sawdust, haylage, and urea. These products may be dirty, dusty, odorous, corrosive along with varying densities and varying degrees of moisture and numerous gradations of the material. It is evident that the sweep auger drive ring and the track within which it rotates are exposed to many and varied difficult operating conditions. The bearing relation between the drive ring and its track has traditionally been a metal to metal bearing of a simple rugged design. Simplicity and ruggedness are essential in silo reclaimers. The designs of the prior art require constant and heavy lubrication with oils and greases to achieve proper operation. Heavy lubrication and heavy dirt conditions are not ideal conditions and lubrication of these devices has always been a difficult and dirty job. Not only has lubrication been difficult but there have also been problems of contamination of the product being reclaimed, with there being no efficient way to remove material that filtered into the track.
This invention provides a novel rugged bearing assembly for a silo reclaimer that can be safely operated without lubrication, be largely protected from material infriltration into the drive ring track and provide an efficient means of removing any material that does infiltrate, thus prevent braking problems.
It is an object of this invention to provide a bearing assembly for a drive ring of a silo reclaimer that includes a housing to protect the bearing from the hail effects of materials in the silo that are waiting to be reclaimed.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a bearing assembly for a drive ring of a silo reclaimer that is rugged enough for silo reclaimer use.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a bearing assembly for a drive ring of a silo reclaimer that is inexpensive to build.
With these and other objects in view, this invention provides a silo reclaimer of the type having a sweep auger; a ring drive for the sweep auger, the ring drive having a drive ring with its lower edge in bearing relation with a bearing surface mountable in or on a silo reclaim floor with the improvement of bearings on the drive ring for bearing relation with said bearing surface made of a plastics bearing material wherein the plastics bearing material has a coefficient of friction on its bearing surface to operate without lubrication in use.